


Punk!Bokuto x Reader - Wet Hair & Soaked Jackets

by KittenTalesAuthor



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fukuroudani, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, One-Shot, Oneshot, Other, Romance, XReader, punk!bokuto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 01:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7738750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittenTalesAuthor/pseuds/KittenTalesAuthor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being the quiet kid in a new school is never very easy and _______ knows this all too well. They find it more and more difficult each passing day to get by without finding some sort of hardship within the confines of Fukurodani Academy. They have an excruciatingly bashful personality that makes everything much harder and their debilitating fear of people causes them to move on through the years without a true friend by their side. Yet, when they enter their second year in the academy, they are putinto an accelerated math program which places them into a third year class on their own. There, _______ is set to tutor the mysterious Bokuto Koutarou who continuously sends them mixed signals about what he thinks of them. Will it ever change? Well, maybe when he finds out what a crueler group of third years have been doing to them. Maybe, just maybe, he'll show them his brighter kind side to make them feel like they really matter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Punk!Bokuto x Reader - Wet Hair & Soaked Jackets

I wish I could find my voice.

Most of the time, I go on unnoticed, uncared for and am completely ignored no matter how hard I try to raise my voice. A lot of the time, I feel like I’m just some kind of ghost that’s been cursed to haunt the halls of Fukurodani Academy, but I suppose if that were true I wouldn’t necessarily still be made to attend classes and keep up my grades. Even so, it’s just gotten really hard to get by around here. My first year in the new school was alright I guess, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was smooth sailing, either. I have a bit of an issue with a very debilitating shyness that clings to me no matter how hard I try to shake it off, so making friends has been a bit of a problem for a long time with me. A lot of the time, I’m too scared to make the first move to talk to someone and the times when I think I’ve worked up the courage within myself with self-encouraging mental speeches, the strength quickly drains down my body and melts away through my feet as soon as I stand. When people approach me on their own (which, granted, isn’t very often) I either get choked up and have no idea what to say or I end up making a complete fool of myself. I’m awkward, shy and get scared easy around new people, so needless to say, the first year went by pretty lonesome for me.   

My sense and air of silence stuck to me all year and even into my second year. I thought maybe this second year would be better, I thought I could maybe make a difference in myself to try to open up to someone normally so I could try to have at least _one_ friend, but it hasn’t worked so far. I’m still the terribly fearful and quiet student I’ve been since the very beginning, so when I started to notice this and finally let it sink in, I decided to just stick with it. I thought maybe it was just a waste of my time to try to go out of my way to meet someone when they wouldn’t do the same for me. Why should I bring such fright to myself when I clearly wasn’t as important to the other person? I don’t know. I guess I still clung to the hope of finding one friend back then, but that’s all changed now. The only thing that makes the situation so much worse is the fact that I was placed into a third year math class. I suppose this is supposed to be a good thing since it’s an advanced placement and I can get credits here a little quicker than most do, but the thing is, I’m the only second year in my class. I guess the accelerated program in this department in the academy is relatively knew, so I have no other second years with me during my class which has basically tossed me into the lions’ den taut with ropes of meat.

I assume some of the more rugged third years in the group don’t necessarily like the idea of having to be put up in the same level as me. That specific little bunch of third years love to let me know about it, too. Reserved as I am, I still do get scared of the people around me. It’s difficult to have to socialize when I’m forced to, but it only makes it worse to have the older kids tease and pick on me. It sounds dumb, doesn’t it? Like we were all back in middle school again. Yet, as simple as I wish it were, it goes far beyond that. The teasing I get from the roughly edged teens is always exceptionally harsh and rude. They have gone out of their before to push me around and just make me feel like dirt. In this entire school, the only people I’m visible to are them. They’re the only ones who can see me and I’ll bet everything I have that they wished they couldn’t. I don’t see why they have to be like this, though. I don’t understand why they have to go out of their way to treat me like this when I’ve never even personally uttered a word in their direction. I assume it’s just the fact that they don’t like having a second year placed in the same level as them, but why is that my fault? If I had to choose, I’d go back to the second years’ math class to spare myself the torture, but it’s much too late for that now. I originally thought this was going to be a great opportunity for me in the beginning of the year, but I quickly grew to regret my decision in staying.

Maybe I could have swallowed down the injustice and done my best to avoid the couple of ‘bad seeds’ (as the teacher likes to call them), but it seemed like the universe was working against me. Despite how quiet I am and how invisible I tried to make myself out to be in this class, the teacher had decided to do something that only made matters so much worse. I didn’t care to get to know any of these third years personally, but there was one I was paired up with to tutor. I held my breath the day I was assigned this mission, trembling within my boots as I had waited for the boy to enter the class after school when we were supposed to meet back on that first session. I had instantly expected him to be like the rest. He carried himself out to be like that, anyways. Yet, he ended up proving me wrong. Bokuto Koutarou, though he still teased me relentlessly like the others, was a lot more…mild tempered. He didn’t go out of his way to make me feel like dirt, didn’t go out of his way to push me around. The only thing he did was tease me and, though it was sometimes kind of harsh, I always sort of appreciated the fact that he never took it _too_ far. Even with that positive note, however, I never knew if the guy was okay with me or not. Hell, I still don’t know to this day. He doesn’t seem like he’s very fond of me, but he also doesn’t seem to hate me. So, I had come to guess he just didn’t care for me and the only thing I caused him was a headache with the tutoring I had basically been forced to give him.

It’s been weeks since that first session and even now the boy is still giving me a hard time. He never really cared much for these tutoring sessions so I always felt like I was wasting both his and my own time, but the two of us continuously showed up on the afternoons in which he was free from volleyball. He was a third year, a short while away from graduating, so I didn’t expect him to care as much as others did, but I still tried. I tried to teach him something new every time we meet up, but I haven’t succeeded much since we first started. I couldn’t help the deep, exasperated sigh that escaped me at the thought as I watched said boy lean back in his seat beside me with a disinterested look on his face, his feet resting up on the chair opposite of him. He never sat correctly in the desks. He always moved them around so he could sit with his feet up when we met up. He brought his arms up to fold them behind his head of gray and black locks, spiked up high with a pair of small plug piercings to show on both of his earlobes. Golden eyes remained lidded in boredom as he looked towards the clock on the wall across from us, his gaze seeming to follow the ticking of the seconds as he rolled his shoulders within the leather jacket slung over his form.

Yet again, we were going through a pointless session. I had spent most of the afternoon trying to get him to pay attention to what I was trying to show him, but nothing seemed to get through to him. Just like on many other long, _long_ afternoons, he had been making the session more difficult than what it had to be. Why didn’t he just cooperate with me so we could both get out of here quicker if he hated it so much? It’s irritating to even think about. “Bokuto,” I spoke up, quiet though I may have been. “Please, c-can’t you just work with me here? P-please? If you worked with me, then we c-could just go home sooner…” I tried to point out to him, gesturing to the clock he had been staring at. It was getting late. Really late. It’s already almost five-thirty and, to top it off, it looks like it’s getting ready to rain. Looking over towards the window in the room, I grimaced at the sight of the angry storm clouds which only seemed to grow darker and darker the longer we both spent here pointlessly in the empty classroom. A tut from the boy brought my gaze back to him just in time to see him turn an unmotivated glance in my direction, a small, annoyed frown on his face. “Jeez, sorry, _______,” He responded. “I guess I’m not really in the mood of being taught how to solve a bunch of fractions by a little second year.”

I felt myself involuntarily shrink back because of his reply, turning my gaze off to the side. That’s what the others in the group call me most of the time: the little second year. I don’t even think they know my real name. Well, I guess that was one of the prime examples of his attitude towards me which forced me to stay on the fence about him. I wasn’t sure how to take what he had told me, but I couldn’t deny it riled me up a bit on the inside. His teasing always seemed to have that effect on me amongst many others. No matter how scared I could get or how quiet I may be, that doesn’t stop me from being upset by someone demeaning me when all I’m trying to do is help them. Tightening my grip on my pencil atop of the desk, I used my free hand to take a taut grip of the loose clothe of my left pant leg, grumbling beneath my breath. “Well, this ‘little second year’ is just trying to help you like you so clearly need…” I normally never speak up or say what’s on my mind when it comes to this kind of thing, so the fact that I let those words slip into the air surprised even _me_. I didn’t mean to let them slip and roll off of my tongue, but I just couldn’t stop myself. Hoping upon hope that my invisibility would cover me for this one, I turned a nervous glance back in his direction to see a sharper look take over his once bored expression, those golden hues firmly set on me.

I couldn’t help but stiffen up straight in my seat at the sight, feeling as everything in me seemed to tighten in sudden anxiety as I watched the once disinterested male begin to sit himself up properly in his chair to gain a better look of me. Quickly, I could feel my heart start to pick up the pace within me, forcefully beating at the inside of my chest as if it were begging for a way out. Fear soon after instilled itself deep inside of my gut as I felt my stomach practically flip inside, my mouth shut in a straight line. **_He heard me._** He turned himself towards me quietly then, his legs spread far apart as he rested his elbows over each of his knees, staring at me in that unnerving silence with a disquieting air to his being. This all felt way too intense for me, something I could just hardly withstand, but I couldn’t come up with anything to say now as I stared back at him in horror. My first instinct was to apologize in fear that he would turn out to do something like the other group of third years, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. What if I just end up making it worse than what I already had? What if I make him genuinely angry with me and he does something _worse_ than the others? I have that awful habit of jumping to conclusions and I’m fully aware of this, but I can’t help it. With as unreadable a look as the one he was giving me, anything could happen.

I could feel my grip on my pencil and pants tightening further and further subconsciously out of my nervous anxiety as I watched those golden hues skim over me in an almost chilling curiosity for a moment before turning back to lock with my own. A smooth, toothy grin angled his lips large and wide, his eyes gaining a shine and brightness to them as he began to chuckle huskily, the sound seeming to rumble from deep within his chest. A harsh shiver ran down the course of my spine at the mere sound as I tried to gulp down the lump in my throat and held my breath as I watched him inch in a little bit closer. “You know,” He mused. “You’ve got a bit of a mouth on you for someone who always looks so scared. What? Is it all just an act?” I felt my eyes widen at his accusation and I quickly began to fumble for a response. “I-I…I just…” I couldn’t bring my words together, my tongue twisting and tying and tripping over itself more than it normally did. I’ve never been in a situation like this before, so I had no idea how to react. What would be the right move? What would get me out of this alright? To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure that step existed for me. I watched as he ran his tongue over his lips for a moment, wetting the dried skin in a slow motion that rushed goose flesh all over the length of my arms.

Casually, he leaned in closer towards me to the point where our faces were mere inches apart, the tip of his nose just teasingly brushing over my own. His eyes dug their slit gaze sharply within mine and I swear to everything that existed that I found myself frozen in place. Even if I wanted to, I found that I couldn’t move. My muscles refused my brain’s commands of intimidation, refused the ice that rushed through my veins to chill me down to the very bone. I could feel one of his hands reach down to grip onto my own which was balled tight around my pencil, squeezing it in his grasp. I could feel myself start to tremble before him, my legs shaking and hitting against each other before I pressed them close together, afraid they’d clank and clonk if they bumped into one another one too many times. A smirk seemed to angle his lips prominently at the sight before he leaned into my ear now instead. I could feel his hot breath warm over my skin, racing down to torment and trouble even my neck with his heat. “I didn’t think making you shake like this would be so much fun.” He chuckled huskily. “I think you’re having fun with this, too, aren’t you? Enjoying the way I make you shiver?”  

His lips brushed over the skin of my ear with each whispered word he hushed to me, forcing my grip to get harder and harder until I could actually _feel_ my pencil snap in my hand clutched beneath his own. Hot, boiling blood ran through my veins now no matter how hard I tried to deny it, no matter how badly I wished it had remained with its icy chills. I could feel each vigorous pump my heart gave as it worked in overdrive because of this boy. This damn boy who never let me be when we came into tutoring sessions. “You really are a big scaredy-cat, huh? A lil’ pussy cat. I can practically _smell_ the fear on you, but you like that, don’t you? That wasn’t necessarily my intention, but I can’t say I don’t dig it, either.” With eyes as wide as they could be, I could feel my trembling getting so much worse in this cornered position beneath him. I could practically feel my heart start to claw its way up my throat to beg the boy to stop making it beat so much more than it was meant to. Though I tried desperately to reply, trying to search through the heated fog in my mind for a way out of this, all I could do was whimper incomprehensibly at him as I fumbled for the right words to say once more. What was he trying to say? What was he implying…?! A million different possibilities set themselves prominently in my head and there was absolutely no way I could avoid it with him looming over me, breathing hot over my ear.

Well, that is, until he pulled back in laughter.

Staring at him in flustered disbelief, I watched as his heartfelt laughter left him with his head thrown back, sinking into his seat beside me once more. He held a hand to his forehead as the other clutched at his chest, crumpling up the fabric of the white tee he wore beneath his jacket. “Awe jeez!” He chortled loudly. “You’re so easy to get to, _______! It never gets old! You’ve got to be _the_ best second year to mess with!” I felt my cheeks grow unbearably hot at his remark as my mouth hung agape for a moment before shutting in a mortified look of pure embarrassment. I huddled myself up in my seat as he let his laughter leave him loudly as it always did, setting the broken pencil in my grip aside so I could wrap my arms around myself. “Y-you…! Y-you’re so…!” I whined in frustration, trying to hide just how badly he had actually affected me with his little act just then. Yet, even as mean as it was, he looked back at me with that big smile on his face as he wiped at the tears that had gathered in his eyes from how much he had been laughing at my embarrassment. It was distressing, but at least he wasn’t too condescending. “Oh, that’s a good one, _______! Really dug in deep that time, didn’t ya?” He snickered teasingly before standing to his feet, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “As much fun as I’m having with ya, dolly, I’m gonna call this session over for the day.”

I blinked at that, shaking my head at him in response as I stood to my feet right after him. “W-what? No…! We didn’t even get anything done!” He rolled those golden eyes of his lightheartedly at that. “So? Do we ever? Plus,” He gestured to the clock. “It’s six now. I think we’ve spent enough time here, yeah? Also, it’s going to start raining soon and there’s no way in hell I’m walking home in the rain. I don’t want my hair or jacket getting wet for a bunch of math problems.” I furrowed my brow at that before turning to look out the window. Thunder boomed distantly from outside and boy, did that sky look angry. It was bad before, but I guess it must have gotten a hell of a lot worse when Bokuto was...‘teasing’ me. “B-but…the tutoring…!” I tried to tell him once more as I turned my view back to him, but by then, he had already walked himself over to the door of the classroom, leaning against it to hold it open as he met my gaze. “It can wait for the next time. Don’t worry, you’ll see me again tomorrow. You won’t have to miss me for too long.” He snickered on before sending a wink and smirk my way. “You should be getting home now, too. Don’t wanna get caught in a storm, do ya? See you around, _______.” With that, he was gone. He left the classroom without letting me reply at all, his footsteps echoing down the hall as he walked away.

Left alone in the empty classroom, I stood there silently for a moment before releasing a heavy, shaken sigh, plopping myself down in my seat for a breath. There is seriously no arguing with him. The bastard always does stuff like this. He always smooth talks and plays his way out of our tutoring. All he does it waste my time here and use it to tease me as much as he can while we’re alone. I know there’s no arguing with him, no convincing him to give the problems we’re meant to work on a serious look, so I quickly found out that _trying_ to argue with him about staying a little longer to give it all a shot would be a waste of energy, too. It would just end up the same way, anyways. Even with all of that clear in my mind, even with the facts of his personality and our relationship prominent in my head, I couldn’t seem to stop the wild thumping in my chest and the aftermath of his teasing. I’m aware he doesn’t really care. I’m aware he probably never would. Yet, that doesn’t stop it. It doesn’t stop the way it makes me feel inside whenever he does things like this and I hate it. I hate it more than I could ever say. Shaking my head at the thought, I decided to gather my things together and for once, take his advice. It got later today than usual with our session and I just want to get home to take a shower and pretend like everything that went on in this classroom never happened to begin with.

 

~¤ ¤ ¤ ¤~

 

Flashes of lighting striking through the sky above highlighted the angry storm clouds as booms of thunder echoed around the world and rain hammered against the ground below. My breath was short and quick, caught in my throat as I ran as fast as my legs would allow me to. My clothing stuck to my skin, soaked completely through, the cold of the air striking deep within me. My feet slipped and skated across the wet ground beneath me, threatening to let me fall with any false step I could have made, my bag weighing heavy on my back to slow me down more than I wanted it to. I have no idea how long and how far I had been running for, but I know it was a lot more than I intended when I first started off on this walk home. I didn’t expect anything to happen. I didn’t expect to get tangled up in this mess! All I wanted to do was get home to relax after a long afternoon of trying to tutor Bokuto, but after I had walked just a couple of blocks away from the school, I had a run-in with the group of third years from our class. Consequently, being in the same class, they knew I have these sessions with him after classes dismiss on his days off from volleyball practice, so I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they had been waiting for me the entire time. Even so, this time, things just got so much _worse_.

I could hear them shouting towards me from close behind, ebbing me to try to pick up my pace faster and faster, but I couldn’t comprehend what they were saying. The sound of thunder and heavy rain was loud in my ears and, truthfully, the last thing my mind wanted to unravel was the mystery behind their shouted remarks towards me. I know they weren’t good, so why try? Things have just gotten so _scary_ now, I don’t want to stop. I don’t want them to catch up. What do they have in mind of doing if they catch me? They’ve never gone this far before, have never actually _chased me down_. I don’t see why they even would! What have I ever done to them that’s made them hate me so much?! This took the bullying to a much severer level than I ever anticipated they would! I had just expected them to keep up their harassment in school as they’ve done until they graduate, but to get physical? It’s honestly **_terrifying_**. I don’t have the strength to fight them back, don’t have the courage to stop and face them, so what the hell am I supposed to do?! Well, all I _could_ do was keep running through the rain even as my legs began to burn from the relentless strain, even as my lungs started to ache with each breath I desperately tried to take in.

My panic quickly grew worse and worse as I heard the group get closer, listening as the leader of the tribe of delinquents hollered for them to run faster. I felt myself whimper heavily at the sound, desperate to get away, but as I made a hasty turn at the end of the road, I felt myself trip over my footing at last, forcing me to stumble and fall hard and heavy. I skidded across the wet, rocky ground, hissing sharply at the burning the rough surface paid to the skin of my palms. I know for a fact the abrupt movement had forced my pants to rip over my knees because the stinging quickly made itself prominently known over the area. Groaning in displeasure once I came to a stop, I shakily panted for breath, trembling from the strain of a weakened, tired form and the cold rain that pelted over me. The footsteps from the group quickly came to a halt as they neared me at last, the four upperclassmen circling me in so there would be no escape. Timidly, I turned my gaze up to meet that of the leader’s, the one who always seemed to speak up for the rest. What was it with these kind of bullies? They always had to have some brainless ringleader and I was staring right at the dimwitted jerk.

While I was dying for a breath and barely had the strength to keep myself up anymore, the people around me seemed completely fine, a smug, condescending smirk angling the ringleader’s lips. “Slippery little shit, aren’t you? Trying to run away like that. That’s pretty damn rude of you, you know?” I shook my head in reply to his words, whimpering, subconsciously kicking myself further back from his reach, but this only led me to bump into the legs of one of the other kids. Squealing out in spiked fear, I quickly scooted away from them, but this forced me back into the middle of the group. None of them moved except for the lead, the sound his footsteps made as they walked through the puddles around us forcing more than just the shivers from the rain to course through me. Looking up at the uncaring boy, I cursed myself a million times in my head as I felt my eyes start to sting, the warm trail the bitter tears left along my cheeks as they fell feeling awfully odd in contrast to the cold I felt from the rain. Hopefully, though, this would all go unnoticed because of said rain to them, but I wasn’t too sure. The ringleader clicked his tongue as he watched me for a moment in chilling silence, a scowl beginning to take form over his expression as our gazes met. “Shit, crying already? We haven’t even done anything, little second year.” Just as quick, a devilish smirk angled his lips before he reached down, the sudden upwards jerk of my collar causing an involuntary cry to leave me as he pulled up to my feet, dragging me up close to him. “Well, not yet, anyways.”

Horror quickly joined forces with the fear that refused to loosen its grip on my very core as I vigorously shook my head at him, reaching up to grip on tight to his wrists and push in an attempt to get him away. “Let go!” I whimpered out loud over the sound of the pouring rain, getting more hectic and frantic with my struggles against him as I felt him jerk me about a bit in his hold out of irritation. “Let me go, _please_! I haven’t e-even done anything to y-you! Why do you have to do this?!” For that moment, I swear I had found a little spark of my voice. It wasn’t in the way I had ever wanted to find it in, wasn’t how I wanted to speak up to make myself heard, but it was there. I could feel it, could hear it. “Does it honestly look like I need a reason?” He responded with an annoyed roll of his eyes before forcing me closer to him so we were eye-to-eye. “I guess if you really insistent on needing a reason, I can give you one.” He growled lowly, all hints of mere cruel teasing gone from his tone and replaced with something a lot more disturbing. “I don’t like you. I don’t like your face, I don’t like your voice, the way you dress, the way you look, the way you are. I’m doing this simply because I can. Is that reason enough for you?” At first, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure if he actually intended on having me answer his obviously mocking question or not, but what finally put my doubt to rest was the raising of his free hand balled up into a fist. I looked away with tightly shut teary eyes, not wanting to see how this cliché, unjust scene would come to an end.

“Toshio, what the hell do you think you’re doing? Put the kid down, would ya?”

That voice. It wasn’t like the rest. Though I had been expecting the worst to come out of this situation, the hurt I had anticipated never did come. The boy who gripped me seemed to freeze at the familiar call and this gave me just enough skittish curiosity to open my eyes and see if it was really him. Looking up, I noticed Bokuto standing behind the boy in front of me. He was completely soaked in rain water, the drops pelting over him having forced his spiked hair down, trodden and close to his skin with its dual colored streaks. There was a sharp look to those golden eyes of his that resembled the one he gave me back at school just a short while ago, but there was something different about it this time. It looked darker, livid. What was he even doing here? How did he stumble onto us? I thought he had gone home a long time ago after he left me alone in the class. If that was so, then how could he have come here just in time for what was about to happen? So many questions like these raced through my mind and it all couldn’t have scared me more. I feel like I’ve been using that word to describe how I feel a lot lately. Scared. It’s so unfair. I hate feeling like this all the time in a place where I’m supposed to be safe, but I guess I was never guaranteed that to begin with.

“Koutarou,” The boy whom Bokuto had addressed as Toshio snickered out to him when he looked over his shoulder in his direction. “You can’t be serious. I would expect you more than anybody to want to give the little brat what they deserve. For fuck’s sake!” He laughed, jerking me about again carelessly. I whimpered shakily at the rough movement, my neck beginning to hurt with the taut grip the boy had on my shirt’s collar. I could feel heavier tears begin to drip down my cheeks as my expression all but crumbled, honest to God expecting Bokuto to go with it. He had never gotten to this kind of extent with me before, had never really shown me any sign of animosity or malice, but why would he bother trying to help me? These people around me didn’t know me and they seemed to have developed an unrelenting hatred for me without much reason, so what about him? He actually did know me, he’s spent time with me and, even if we’re not on the friendliest terms, he’s gotten to know me more than this group while he’s kept himself mostly as a mystery for me. It just makes more sense in my head for him to hate me like this group does and it’s sad. Really sad. I don’t see the point in him wanting to help me, but then again, maybe that could have just been the domineering fear speaking for me. I’m not so sure anymore. “The lil’ bitch thinks they’ve got you under their thumb! Snooty little fuck.” Toshio snickered on in his wickedness.   

“I said, _put the kid **down**_. Don’t force me to step in, Toshio.” Bokuto was quick to retort right back to him without an ounce of hesitation in his demeanor. With confidence and pride in his step, the golden eyed boy stepped towards us with his head held high until he stood a couple of feet away from Toshio and myself. His gaze had slit to an unforgiving glare, hands balled up to fists by his sides. The sight was terrifying and the prospect of it being directed towards me was even worse, but there was just something off about this. Why was he trying to get Toshio to set me down if he was only going to beat on me like I suspected? Why would he go out of his way to get me out of this shitty situation when my assumption of him was like that? Could it be that the fear was actually really blinding me? Was it speaking for me? Thinking for me? The look on Toshio’s face had morphed into one of incredulity towards the boy’s stance on the situation, moving the two of us so he could face him correctly. “You’re serious? How could you be _serious_?! Why the hell are you sticking up for a shitty little second year?!” Toshio snapped, growling towards the boy with the now trodden hair. “What are you gonna have to show for this crap, huh, Kou?! What are you-”

“ _Put the kid down, Toshio! Put’em down **now** before I **make** you! I’m not going to say it again!_”

Bokuto’s snarled, loud shout forced me to flinch involuntarily due to the boom in his voice, feeling as I practically shrunk in Toshio’s hold with quiet, shaken whimpers continuously leaving me. An eerie silence surrounded the group for a moment after the unnerving confrontation, the ringleader’s ‘pals’ seeming to become shifty from the tension as well. While Toshio sized up to Bokuto’s glare, the group around him seemed ready and clear to leave the scene and never look back. I had known Bokuto had that tough guy attitude and all, but that he was _this_ intimidating? Never. Finally breaking the silence, Toshio scoffed at the dual haired boy and shoved me away from him, making me trip back before falling over on the ground beneath me. I hissed to myself shakily at the landing, trying to ignore the stinging of the scrapes on my palms as I sat myself up on the ground. “Fine. Take the shitty second year. See if I care.” Toshio gave one last sneer before he began to walk away, signaling for the others to follow in suit whom quickly came trailing behind on his tail. Soon enough, the only sound and accompaniment Bokuto and I had was the pouring, unrelenting rain which showered around us. Sniffling, though, I couldn’t find the will in me to look up at the boy who had saved me. All I could do was curl up in place, hugging my knees close and tight to myself as I tried with every ounce of strength I had to will the tears that already slipped by not to turn into sobbing I so desperately wanted to let out. He didn’t need to see that.

Despite the imaginary cocoon I had tried to completely envelope myself in, I could hear his footsteps begin to approach me until I could see the tips of his black shoes come into my teary sights. “Hey,” He called my attention. “You okay?” When I was expecting him to be rough and mean, I actually received a softer, kinder tone than what I was used to. He actually sounded…nice and genuinely concerned. Was he really not here to cause trouble like the rest? Was his act an actual scene? Looking up timidly, I reached up with one of my hands to try to wipe at the tears in my eyes, noticing then as he held a hand out to me. “Come on, let me help you up.” Hesitantly, I watched him for a moment, the fear within me telling me to look out for any sudden change of heart, but when I saw none, I accepted. Shakily, I placed my hand in his own after I had given up on the hope of wiping all the tears out of my vision. His hand gripped onto my own firmly, secure, but it wasn’t painful. It felt warm and…pleasant, even. As he brought me up on my shaky legs, I sniffled again and looked him over once he released my hand so I could wrap my arms around myself once more. “I-I’m fine,” I managed an uneven reply. “But thanks for th-that…” Quietly, I let the words leave me as I shifted my gaze off to the side, hoping my eyes hadn’t grown to be red and puffy.

“How long has this been going on?” Came his blunt question. “Have those guys been on you for long? They’re just a bunch of assholes, but they really don’t know when to stop.” I didn’t know how to answer him, so I just nodded my head silently with a bite of my lower lip, trying to control myself so I didn’t break down again. “Why didn’t you tell me they were bugging you, _______? You should have told me about this as soon as it started. I would have set them straight a hell of a long time ago.” He hissed now, a small hint of the anger I had seen in him before returning to his voice. I whimpered at that as I subtly shook my head, closing my eyes for a moment. “W-why would I have told y-you?” I muttered to him in reply as I found the courage to look back so I could meet his golden gaze. “I never th-thought you gave a d-damn about me…W-why would I have gone to y-you with my problems when I thought it would just b-be a nuisance like I am?” I cursed myself an extra million times in my head once more for letting further bitter tears well up in my eyes, beginning to fall a lot heavier now that it was just me and him. “O-of course I kept it to m-myself…I thought it was all just going to g-go away…I never e-expected them to go this far…” I whimpered, choking on my words near the end as I felt my shoulders heave with the crying that quickly took over me.

“Awe, hey, hey, come on, don’t do that…” He muttered in reply with his eyes having widened a bit before turning into a look that almost seemed pitying…like he cared. Gently, I felt him reach over and grip onto one of my hands as thunder struck in the distance, causing for the boy to curse incomprehensibly to himself. Firmly, his fingers intertwined with my own and he pulled me close to his side as he began to walk us off towards God knows where. “Let’s get out of this rain. You’re gonna get sick out here.”  I didn’t bother trying to fight against him. This kinder side of him was new and odd to me, but I could practically feel the warmth in his words, so I didn’t want to fight him off. I didn’t know where we were going, but I didn’t care. I just let him lead me off as I tried to keep my crying down, squeezing his hand back tightly for some kind of reassurance. I wasn’t expecting anything, wasn’t expecting for him to answer the silent begging, but the squeeze he gave me back was enough to shoot those thoughts to the ground. Soon enough, he managed to lead us to the side of a nearby market with a large awning on the outside for us to hide away under from the rain. 

“God, kid, look at yourself,” He tutted at me, breaking the silence at last as he reached out with both of his hands after releasing my own to wipe the tears and rain water away from my cheeks. “You’re a damn mess. Come on, stop crying, would ya?” I whined shakily in reply, instinctively reaching up to hold onto his arms carefully as his thumbs brushed over my cheeks. His movements were a little brash and a tad on the rough side, but I could sense the kindness he was trying to convey despite his rugged exterior. “I-I’m sorry, I can’t help myself…” He sighed in reply to my comment with a shake of his head as he pulled his hands away from me, ebbing me to do the same. “I know, _______, I know…I know you were probably scared and all, but hey, you’re okay now, right? Yeah, you’re okay!” He bent down a bit to meet me eye-to-eye, flashing me a big, goofy smile, the first I had ever seen on him. “So, chin up! Don’t cry over a bunch of idiots. They won’t be bothering you again, I promise.” I looked him over silently with my watery eyes for a while after his kind words sunk in, the warmth in his friendly gestures melting the fear away at last. For once, I didn’t feel so afraid. I felt…okay. Everything still hurt because of that group of bullies, my palms and knees still stung and burn from the scrapes, but he was there to stop it. I’m okay. That’s when it hit me. A crucial detail had finally made itself blatantly known to me within the sight of him that I had failed to pay my full attention to earlier during the confrontation.

“B-Bokuto…Your hair and j-jacket are all wet…”

His eyes widened for a moment in response to my murmured comment and this caused for him to stand up straight again, an almost embarrassed look crossing his expression as he grumbled under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck with one of his hands. Taking a moment to what I guessed was recompose himself, he shook his head and began to roll and shrug his shoulders, pulling the leather jacket off of himself until it was in his hands, leaving him in his soaked white tee. “Yeah, well, whatever. Doesn’t matter.” He opened the jacket up in his hands before moving it towards me, draping it over my shoulders. “Here. It isn’t much since you’re already soaked to the bone, but it should at least help keep you a little warmer on the way home.” Shock was an understatement for what I felt hit me when everything sunk in and seemed to make itself sensible in my head. He was lending me his _jacket_. The jacket he never once took off whenever I had seen him around school, one of his signature trademarks. “R-really…? Y-you’re lending this to me? B-but, Bokuto, it’s your j-jacket…” He tutted once more and waved his hand at me dismissively in reply, a playful little grin angling his lips as he offered me a friendly wink. “Don’t ever say I didn’t do you any favors.” A smile tugged at my lips to join his before I took a look down at his jacket draped over me, hugging it closer to myself despite it being wet. Gently, I felt my expression soften in gratitude as I brought my gaze back up to meet his own once more. “Thank you, Bokuto…For everything.” His smile softened to join my own this time around as the rain continued to fall, but ceased to reach us. Warm. Safe. Dry.

“Yeah, don’t mention it, kid.”   


End file.
